Ex-President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the incarceration of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, alleging them of failing to protect federal immigration officers.
"The city's leader belongs behind bars for failing to secure ICE Officers!" Trump posted on social media Wednesday morning. "The Illinois governor as well!"
The two leaders identify as the Democratic party.
These remarks coincide with the deployment of state military troops in the Windy City area following directives from the current government, despite strong objections from state officials including Pritzker and Johnson.
"This represents not the first instance where Trump has sought to have a Black man wrongfully arrested," Johnson responded on that day. "I'm not going put."
The governor responded via social platforms, declaring: "I will not back down. Now Trump is calling for imprisonment of democratically chosen representatives resisting his authority. What remains on the path to complete authoritarianism?"
By Wednesday morning, National Guard units from the Lone Star State had reached the Elwood training facility, an army base approximately 80 kilometers from the city, as the administration pushes forward with its aggressive crime strategy and immigration enforcement operations.
Trump has labeled Chicago a "crime-ridden hellhole", despite police data indicate significant drops in many offenses, including homicides.
On Wednesday, 200 state guard troops were scheduled to arrive to the Chicago area, with another 300 state military personnel readying for deployment, according to sources. Officials indicated the soldiers would not perform police functions but would secure ICE officers and government buildings.
Military personnel in combat attire with Texas national guard insignia were spotted at the US army reserve center in the town. Trucks labeled "Disaster Relief" dropped off sanitation facilities and essential items. Trailers were set up in rows. Additional fencing was placed around the compound.
Aviation authorities ordered no-fly zones over the army reserve center for safety concerns until early December.
The administration has escalated immigration enforcement in the city in the past month, triggering demonstrations, particularly near an processing facility in a Chicago suburb.
Earlier this week, state and city filed a lawsuit against the administration, attempting to halt the military dispatch, urging a court to stop what they describe as "the president's proclaimed 'War'" on Chicago and Illinois, calling it "illegal and risky".
Legal proceedings on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday.
The mayor also signed an executive order on that day prohibiting federal immigration agents and others from using municipal facilities as operation bases for enforcement actions.
Pritzker has accused the president of using military forces as "political props" and "chess pieces".
At a news conference on Tuesday, he said that the president is trying to "rationalize and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command."
The historic Posse Comitatus Act restricts the military's role in enforcing domestic laws. However, the president has stated he would be prepared to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a commander-in-chief to send active duty military in states that are unable to put down an uprising or are resisting national authority.
After beginning his new administration, the president has dispatched or discussed deploying military units to at least 10 urban centers, such as Baltimore; Washington DC; New Orleans and West Coast locations like Bay Area and Southern California municipalities, claiming that the armed forces is essential to combat crime and defend immigration agents.
Data indicates that most violent crime nationwide has declined in the past few years. In the city, for example, murders were down nearly one-third to under three hundred through late summer, according to police data.
New survey data published on that day revealed that most Americans oppose the sending of military forces without an external threat.
